Treatment of gasoline



March 1, 1927..

1,619,206 M. W. HARRIGER ET AL TREATMENT OF GAS OLINE Filed Aug. 6, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORQ "J' L 77 N Q' x (1424A), AT'TORNEY inch in diameter.

Patented Mar. 1, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT o amas F5 Q E' MEADE W. HARRIGER AND WILLIAM J. BAKER, 0F TYLERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

TREATMENT on GASOLINE.

Application filed August 6. 1924.

Our invention relates to the treatment of gasoline, and has for an object the extraction of the wild gas, that is the gas which causes vapor tension, from casing-head gasoline.

We will describe one method and one form of apparatus embodying our invention, and will then point out the novel features thereof in claim.

in the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a View showing one form of apparatus embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is a View showing a water box forming part of a blender b illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view showing the gasoline heater unit forming part of the blender 13 shown in Fig. 1. Fig. is a view showing the residue gas container forming part of the blender illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a view showing a condenser which may be used in connection with the apparatus shown in Fig. l, and .vhich is also suitable for use as'thc condenser for a gasoline plant.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each of the several views.

Referring to the drawings, the main part of the apparatus, is a device 15 which we will term the gasoline blender. blender comprises a water box N which may be made of sheet steel and is preferably rectangular as shown in Fig. 2. This box is provided at the bottom with a hot water inlet port 2 which leads to a water distributer 3 located on the inside of the box and at the bottom thereof. The distributor is made up of one or more horizontal pipes perforated with small holes, preferably about- Near the top of one wall of the box B is a water outlet port 4.

Located within the box B is a gasoline heater unit H, illustrated separately in Fig. This unit comprises a plurality of parallel pipes 5 and a plurality of vertical headers (3, (3", etc, each of large internal diame ter as compared with the'internal diameters of the pipes lleader 6 is provided near its top with a gasoline intake port 8 which projects through a hole'tl in the waterbox W, and headers tr, 6 and 6? are providtd near their lower ends with gasoline outlet ports 7, 7* and 7 respectively, which ports projecflthrodgh holes 9, 9 and 9 respectively in a wall of the Water box i The intake port 8 is provided with a hand valve 10 located outside of the water box, and the outlet This ports are provided with similar hand Serial No. 730,415.

valves 1O, l0" and 10-, also located outside of the water box. All of he .=ipes 5 open into each of the headers 3. and these pipes slope downwardly from the inlet header 6 to the last outlet header 0". Assuming that the total length of each pipe 5 is 107', the total drop of each pipe is preferably about :T/; ",'in which case the drop of each. pipe between headers (3 and 6 is preferably l Z the drop between headers 6" and 6 is the same. the drop between headers (3 and (3 3/ the drop between headers 6 and G" is l", and the drop between headers (3 and (i is 1". It will be seen, therefore, that gasoline entering header (3 from. port- 8 will flow slowly by gravity through the pipes to the last header (J The upper end of each header ('3 is provided with a vaporized gas outlet port 11 the function of which will appear hereinafter.

Located in the water box \l' above the heater unit .11 is a residue gas container 0 which is 'separately illustrated in Fig. 4. This container may be a rectangular sheet metal box, and is closed at top and bottom as well as on all four Sides. Projecting upwardly from the bottom of the container are six header stand pipes 12 which register with thevaporized g as outlet ports 11 of Fig. each stand pipe being connected with its associated outlet port before the heater unit ll and container C are inserted in the box V. The first stand pipe 12 is providedwith a small hole 14 near the floor of the container C to allow any liquid gasoline which enters the container to flow back into header (3. The roof of the container C is provided with a relief valve 15 which is connected with the. field suction line between the gas well and the compressor, whereby the suction due to the flow of gas in this line draws vapor out of the container 0. This relief valve is preferably adjustable, and is set to cause any desired vacuum in the container (l.

llel'ore explaining the operation of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive. it should be pointed out that casing-head gasoline, that is. gasoline which derived from the casing head-s ol'natural gas wells, contains a certain amount of gas which is known as wild gasol-i11e.I-and which is the portion of the gasoline that developsvapor tension. The vapor tension of this wild gasoline may in some instances be as high as 28 lbs. per square inch. This wild gasoline is undesirable for several reasons, one of which is that it evaporates and in so doing it carries good gasoline away with it, thus resulting in a heavy loss. Another objection to the wild g: soline is that it evaporates very freely when heated, and, consequently, is likely to cause boiling in the carburetor of a gasoline engine. especially when such carburetor is heated by a water jacket. Raising the temperature of the casing-head gasoline to 100 Fahrenheit will vaporize all of the wild gasoline.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the gas is taken from the gas well through a field line to a gasoline plant,v and from the accmnulator tank of such plant the gasoline enters the blender B through the hand valve 10. The water which is supplied to the distributor 3 should be at a temperature of about 114 Fahrenheit, whereupon the gasoline flowing through the pipes 5 will be heated to tip proximately 100 Fahrenheit, thereby drivlng oil' the wild gasoline from the mixture which is admitted to the blender. The outlet valves 10, 10 and 10' are all connected to the stock tank, and by opening any one of these three valves the nature of the gasoline which flows into the stock tank may be controlled. For example, we have found that when gasoline of degrees llaum cold blend is supplied to the intake pipe 8, the gasoline which is drawn oil at valve 10 will be of about (36 degrees l'laum and will have a vapor tension of about 3 lbs. (iasm line which is drawn ed. at valve 10" will be of about (35 degrees Baum and will have a temperature of 96, and a vapor tensionof about 1 lb. The gasoline which is drawn oil at valve 1O will be of about 65 degrees Baum and will have a temperature of about 102. and vapor tension of 0, meaning that all of the wild gasoline has been extracted. The foregoing figures assume that the temperature oi the water in the box W is maintained at about 111 Fahrenheit. The blender will, if necessary, extract all of the wild gasoline having a vapor tension as high as 28 lbs. to the square inch.

The wild gasoline leaves the liquid gasoline at the headers (i, and, of course, is in the form of vapor. This vapor llows upwardly through the stand pipes 12 into the residue gas container (1. from which it is drawn oil' through the relief valve 15 into the lield line. A small proportion 01' good gasoline is drawn oil' in the form 'ol' gas with this \apor. but such good gasoline breaks back into liquid after going through the gasoline plant. The wild gasoline does not break back into liquid. because to break this vapor requires a ])lt lllt ol' about 2300 lbs; The

wild .J'as llons into the residue line from which it i used or sold as natural gas. The reason for the large headers (i is to rchcvo back pressure n the gasoline due to the vapor which is drawn oil by the heat of the water. \Vere these headers not provided the vapor pressure thus created would block the flow of gasoline through the heater pipes 5.

It is possible that under some conditions raw gasoline in liquid form may flow up from the headers 6 through the standard pipes 12 and into .the residue gas containers (1. It only a small quantity of raw gasoline enters the container C it will flow back into the first header (3 through a hole 14 in stand pipe 12. It a considerable amount of such raw gasoline enters container. C it will flow out through an opening 1.3 which is connected to the stock tank of the system so that such gasoline will not flow back to the compressor. A sight indicator 25 is pref erably installed in the residue gas container C to indicate such overflow in order that the supply of gasoline to the blender may be discontinued to avoid raw gasoline being admitted to the stock tank.

The hot water required by the blender may be obtained from the cooling the gas engine which is usually employed for an installation of this nature. If the exhaust water from the gas engine jacket is not hot enough to serve the pur ose, a small water heater may be installed etween the engine and the blender to bring the tempera- A ture of the water up to 114 Fahrenheit.

The loss of good gasoline in the blender B is extremely low. Ordinarily it will be from 5% to 10% and will sometimes be as low as 41%. The higher the tension of the wild gasoline the greater will be the loss. There is no loss due to, gasoline in liquid form carried into the container C with the vapor, because if vaporized itv flows back into the compressor through the relief valve 15, and if liquid it flows back into the header 6" at 1 1.

The blender shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 l'uay have an over-all length of about 54 and overall width of about 20. The heater pipes 5 may be pipes, the len th of each pipe being about 107 in whic h instance the headers (i are preferably 3" tubing 16" high. lVe have found that a blender of the dimensionsspecified will handle about 1 gallons of gasoline per minute. Of course, the blender may be made larger or smaller as desired, and may be designed to handle any desired amount of gasoline and gas.

Referring now to Fig. 5, the condenser A in the form here shown. comprises two end plates to and in" car-h drilled and tapped to receive a plurality of small pipes 17. The periphery (11' each end plate is threaded to receive a collar 18 or 18. the inner surfaces of which collars are likewise threaded. Sciiuvcd into the intake collar 18 is an intake nipple 19 which is reduced in size to receive the outlet pipe from the blender li. Screwed into the outlet collar in is an outacket of let nipple 20 which preferably is straight, as shown in the drawing. The end plates 16, the collars 18 and 18', and the nipples 19 and 20, are inserted in a casing 21 having a cold Water inlet port 2 1, and a warm water outlet port 24$. The ends of this casing 21 are threaded to receive stufiing boxes 22 and 23, thereby preventing the loss of gasoline due to any leakage in the joints between end plates and collars or collars and nipples.

The pipes 17 are preferably 4" pipes, the reason for using small pipes being to permit the effect of cold water to penetrate through all of the gasoline in the pipe thereby avoiding an inner core of hot gasoline in the pipe.

Although We have herein shown and described only one method and one form of apparatus embodying our invention, it is understood that "arious changes and modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appended'claim without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

Apparatus for extracting wild gas from casing head gasoline, comprising a plurality of parallel pipes located in vertically spaced relation to each other and each sloping downwardly from the horizontal at an angle such that the total dro from the intake end to the outlet end is su stantially 5% inches in 107 inches, a pluralit of vertical headers each having a.consi erably greater internal diameter than the, sum of the internal diameters of said pipes, the first of said headers being connected with all of said pipes at one end and the last of said headers being connected with all of said pipes at the other end, wh le all of the pipes open into each intermediate header, a gasoline intake pipe opening into the first header, a vapor outlet at the top of each header for the release of wild gas, a gasoline outlet at the bottom of certain of said headers,

means for heating said pipes and headers to such temperature as will vaporize the wild gas in the gasoline flowing therethrough, and a residue gas container located above said sloping pipes and said headers and receiving'the vapor from the vapor outlets in said headers, said container having an opening at its bottom leading into the first of said headers to return to the sloping pipes any liquid gasoline which escapes with the wi d gas.

In testimony whereof'we afiix our signatures.

MEADE W. HARRIGER. WILLIAM J, BAKER. 

